MIRACOSTA PRESIDENT’S PAY BOOST AN ISSUE FOR BOARD

Discussion today about if 2009 raise was unauthorized

Broad declined to say how he feels the situation should be addressed ahead of today’s meeting.

Board member George McNeil, who had just joined the board when Rodriguez was hired, said it was a difficult time for the district, which had gone through two interim presidents and was dealing with several lawsuits. He said the board did not know Rodriguez would receive the raise.

“We didn’t know the 1 percent was coming to him. It was simply that he was a part of the (faculty) group, and it didn’t amount to a lot of money anyway,” McNeil said.

Ruud said that state law requires any raises for high-ranking public officials be placed on a public agenda for a public vote. He said that didn’t happen for Rodriguez and that the president should not have received a raise before June 30, 2010, as stated in the contract.

Ruud said he and former board President Gloria Carranza became aware of the raise last year. Carranza, who is no longer on the board, declined to comment.

At the time, the board was deciding whether to increase Rodriguez’s monthly travel and entertainment allowance from $1,300 to $1,500 and extend his contract to 2014. When Ruud and Carranza were presented with the amendment to Rodriguez’s contract before it was to be approved, Ruud said it contained a “recommended salary” of $258,771 even though the board made no such recommendation.

“When the board president and I brought this to the superintendent/president’s attention, the salary recommendation was deleted and the board took action to approve the two items recommended by the board,” Ruud said, adding that this is how he and Carranza discovered the raise.